Fionn Regan
Of all the stages at the festival, the Austin Ventures stage suffered the most from sound bleed. This didn’t bode well for Ireland’s Fionn Regan, a sweet and melancholy folk singer with a delicate touch. Nevertheless, with Yo La Tengo squalling in the background, the young singer-songwriter took to enrapturing the gathered, a mix of fans and the curious. Sounding more like a cross between Bob Dylan and fellow countryman/Waterboy Mike Scott than he does on his fab debut, The End of History (Lost Highway), the ragamuffin Regan fit a lot into a set just a touch over 30 minutes. With the help of a drummer that actually resembled a young Dylan and a female vocalist, neither of them introduced, Regan’s songs came to life in a way that kept the album’s innocence yet ramped up its intensity. “Put a Penny in the Slot” brought cheers, and when Regan finished off solo with the aching “Be Good or Be Gone,” it felt like the coda to a dream that hadn’t lasted nearly long enough.
This article appears in September 21 • 2007.